JP3133478B2 - Multiple image display device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image display device used in a computer or an image communication terminal, and more particularly to a display device for displaying a plurality of images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a CRT or the like has been used as an image display device of a computer or an image communication terminal. As a method of displaying a plurality of images by these devices, a screen division method shown in FIG. 6 and an overlap window method shown in FIG. 7 are used. In the screen division method of FIG. 6, when the first image 101 and the second image 102 are displayed on one screen 100, the display area of the screen 100 is divided according to the number of the images so that they do not overlap each other. indicate. On the other hand, in the overlap window method of FIG. 7, a window is independently set on the screen 200 for each image and displayed while allowing overlapping. For example, in FIG. 7, the second image 202 is displayed so as to overlap the first image 201 displayed earlier. In addition to these methods, a method of superimposing and displaying images translucently (Japanese Patent Application No. 3-7893)
No.) has also been used.

[0003]

However, the above-described method of displaying a plurality of images according to the prior art has the following problems.

(1) In the screen division method as shown in FIG. 6, there is a problem that a limited screen space must be divided into image regions, and each space becomes small.

(2) In the overlap window system as shown in FIG. 7, there is a problem that a portion where another image is superimposed on the lower image is hidden and cannot be seen.

(3) In the method of displaying images in a semi-transparent superimposed manner, it is possible to solve the above-mentioned problems that the space is reduced and the image is hidden and invisible, but it is necessary to separate a plurality of superimposed images. It was difficult to recognize.

As described above, in the conventional device, a plurality of images can be displayed on one screen without reducing the space of each image, concealing other images from each other, and the user can distinguish and recognize each image. There was no easy way to display it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to display a plurality of images on a single screen without reducing the display space of each image. It is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-image display device capable of displaying images in a form that allows a user to sort and easily recognize images without hiding the images.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a multiple image display device for displaying a plurality of images at the same time, one image display device and an image display surface of the image display device. And a half mirror installed at an angle of 45 degrees with the image display surface, and at a position where the image light of the image display device reflected by the half mirror is perpendicular to the image display surface of the image display device and reflected by the half mirror. A first flat mirror installed, a second flat mirror installed in a direction parallel to the image display surface of the image display device and facing the image display surface through the half mirror, and a mirror surface of each of the flat mirrors An electronic shutter that can electrically control the transparency of the image, an image selection device that alternately selects and outputs one of two input images and outputs the image, and the image selection device switches the output image. An electronic shutter control device for closing the other opening of one of the electronic shutter alternately in synchronism with,
An image path emitted from the image display device is reflected by the half mirror, reflected by the first plane mirror, transmitted through the half mirror, and reaches the user's eyes, and an image emitted from the image display device. The optical path length is different from that of the optical path length, in which light passes through the half mirror, reflects on the second plane mirror, reflects on the half mirror, and reaches the user's eyes.

[0010]

In the multi-image display device of the present invention, two input images are alternately displayed on the image display device while being alternately switched at a high speed. One is alternately opened and the other is closed. Thus, while the input images are alternately switched, one image is reflected by the half mirror, reflected by the first plane mirror, transmitted through the half mirror, and visually recognized by the user, and the other image is transmitted through the half mirror. The light is reflected by the second plane mirror, reflected by the half mirror, and visually recognized by the user.

At this time, the image light emitted from the image display device is reflected by the half mirror, reflected by the first plane mirror, transmitted through the half mirror, and reaches the user's eyes, and the image light emitted from the image display device. The transmitted image light passes through the half mirror,
The optical path length is different from the optical path length that is reflected by the second plane mirror and reflected by the half mirror and reaches the user's eyes. This allows
To the user, the two input images are made to appear to be displayed simultaneously on planes located at different distances overlapping each other. Here, the two display images are alternately switched, and the electronic shutter in front of each plane mirror is alternately opened and closed in synchronization with the switching, so that the other image is displayed while each image is displayed. In addition, the two images do not obscure each other. In addition, as described above, each image can be displayed at the maximum size that can be displayed by the image display device, and each image is positioned at a different distance from the user's observation point, so that the user can perform the eye focusing function. By using or viewing images while moving the observation position, each image can be easily separated and recognized.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a liquid crystal shutter constituted by a liquid crystal panel whose transparency can be electrically controlled is used as an electronic shutter, and a CRT is used as an image display device. In FIG. 1, 10 is a CRT, 20 is a half mirror, 30 is a first plane mirror, 31 is a second plane mirror,
40 is a first liquid crystal shutter, 41 is a second liquid crystal shutter, 43 is a liquid crystal shutter control device, 44 is an AC power supply,
0 indicates a plurality of input image signals, 60 indicates an image selection device,
P1 and P2 are input images, and P is an output image (selected display image) of the image selection device 60. U is a user.

In the configuration of this embodiment, the half mirror 2
0 is installed in front of the display surface of the CRT 10 at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the display surface, and the first plane mirror 30 is a CR that is perpendicular to the display surface of the CRT 10 and reflected by the half mirror 20.
The second plane mirror 31 is installed at a position where the image light of T10 is incident, and is oriented in parallel with the image display surface of the CRT 10 and faces the image display surface through the half mirror 20. Here, the first plane mirror 30 and the second plane mirror 31
Means that the image light emitted from the CRT 10 is the half mirror 2
0, the light reflected by the first plane mirror 30, transmitted through the half mirror 20, and reaches the eyes of the user U;
The image light emitted from 0 is transmitted through the half mirror 20, reflected on the second plane mirror 31, reflected on the half mirror 20, and set to be different from the optical path length reaching the eyes of the user U. These first plane mirror 30 and second plane mirror 31
Liquid crystal shutters 40 and 41 capable of electrically controlling the transparency are provided immediately before the mirror surface. User U is first
The image is viewed from the direction in which the half mirror 20 and the protective glass 50 are passed through the plane mirror 30 of FIG.

In the above, the image selecting device 60 alternately switches a plurality of (two in the illustrated example) images P1 and P2 input by the input image signal 50, for example, in synchronization with a frame period, and displays a display image (output image). ) Input to the CRT 10 as P. The synchronization signal D synchronized with this switching is also input to the liquid crystal shutter control device 43. The liquid crystal shutter control device 43 opens the liquid crystal shutter by applying an AC voltage supplied from the AC power supply 44 to the liquid crystal shutter,
It has the function of closing the liquid crystal shutter by not applying it. The output of the AC power supply 44 to the first liquid crystal shutter 40 and the second liquid crystal shutter 41 is switched and output in synchronization with the synchronization signal D used for switching the input image signal in the image selection device 60. That is, the liquid crystal shutter 4 is synchronized with the switching of the output image P by the image selecting device 60.
One of 0 and 41 is opened and the other is closed.

The operation and operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be described.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing examples of images displayed in the above embodiment. FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing the operation of this embodiment, and FIGS. 4A and 4B. ) And FIG. 5 are diagrams for explaining the operation principle. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, input images P1 and P2 include P1 and P2 shown in FIG.
Is entered.

As shown in the time chart of FIG. 3, the image selecting device 60 sequentially selects and outputs P1 and P2 alternately while switching each frame in synchronization with the frame period of the image signal. The output image P is displayed. The liquid crystal shutter control device 43 that operates in synchronization with the image selection device 60, as shown in the time chart of FIG.
During the period T1 during which the image P1 is displayed, the first liquid crystal shutter 40 is opened and the second liquid crystal shutter 41 is closed. In a period T2 following the period T1, the first liquid crystal shutter 40 is closed and the second liquid crystal shutter 41 is opened.

As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the second flat mirror 31 faces the CRT 10 and the width L of the CRT 10 is changed.
The second liquid crystal shutter 41 is disposed immediately before the second liquid crystal shutter 41, and is disposed farther away by a distance d than 1. First plane mirror 3
0 is disposed adjacent to the CRT 10 and perpendicular to the display surface of the CRT 10, and the first liquid crystal shutter 40 is disposed immediately before the first liquid crystal shutter. The half mirror 20 has a C
It is arranged so as to form an angle of 45 degrees with the display surface of RT10. 4A and 4B, the distance between the position where the CRT 10 and the half mirror 20 contact each other and the observation point O where the user U looks at the display image is L2.

In the above-mentioned period T1, the first liquid crystal shutter 40 is open, so that the displayed image P1 is displayed.
Is reflected by the half mirror 20 and the first liquid crystal shutter 4
0, is reflected by the first plane mirror 30 and is transmitted through the half mirror 20 to reach the observation point O. On the other hand, the image light emitted from the CRT 10 as the image display device and transmitted through the half mirror 20 cannot reach the observation point O without being reflected by the second plane mirror 31 because the second liquid crystal shutter 41 is closed.

In this case, the length Da of the path 1 where the display image reaches the observation point O is

[0022]

## EQU1 ## Da = L2 + 2 × L1.

In the above-described period T2, since the second liquid crystal shutter 41 is open, the displayed image P2
Is transmitted through the half mirror 20, and the second liquid crystal shutter 4
1 and is reflected by the second plane mirror 31, reflected by the half mirror 20, and reaches the observation point O. On the other hand, CRT1
The image light that has emitted 0 and is reflected on the half mirror 20 cannot reach the observation point O without being reflected on the first plane mirror 30 because the first liquid crystal shutter 40 is closed.

In this case, the length Db of the path 2 at which the display image reaches the observation point O is

[0025]

## EQU2 ## Db = L2 + 2 × L1 + 2 × d.

Since the period T1 and the period T2 are repeated at a high speed, as shown in FIG.
P2 is located at a distance of Da and Db from user U, respectively.
It is visually recognized as being simultaneously displayed on two planes spaced by d.

Since each image is visible to the user U without being obscured by the other image in each of the display periods T1 and T2, the user U displays both images in the same manner as the conventional overlapping window system. You can see without being hidden in the image. Further, since the image is not divided as in the conventional image division method, it is possible to display the image of the maximum size that can be displayed on the display device.

Also, since each image is located at a different distance from the user U, the user U can focus on one image and ignore the other, or change the appearance of the image when moving the image viewing position. Since the two display images can be distinguished based on the change, the superimposed images can be easily separated and recognized.

The image display device is not limited to a CRT. As described above, the present invention can be variously applied according to the gist and can take various embodiments.

[0030]

As described above, according to the multi-image display apparatus of the present invention, two images can be displayed in a limited field of view without reducing the space of each image. Without hiding the image, the user can sort and display each image in a form that is easy to recognize.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an apparatus configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing examples of images displayed in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining the operation principle of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining the operation principle of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional image division type multi-image display screen.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional overlap window type multi-image display screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 CRT 20 Half mirror 30 First plane mirror 31 Second plane mirror 40 First liquid crystal shutter 41 Second liquid crystal shutter 43 Liquid crystal shutter control device 60 Image selection device 50 Multiple input images Signal U: User P1, P2: Input image P: Display image (output image)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A 1-28882 (JP, A) JP-A 63-312782 (JP, A) JP-A 1-176887 (JP, U) JP-A 61-68 94882 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G02F 1/13 505 G02B 27/02 G02F 1/1347 H04N 5/74

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of image display devices for displaying a plurality of images simultaneously, wherein one image display device and an image display surface of the image display device are arranged at an angle of 45 degrees with the image display surface in front of the image display surface. A half mirror, a first plane mirror installed perpendicular to an image display surface of the image display device and at a position where image light of the image display device reflected by the half mirror is incident, and image display of the image display device A second plane mirror installed in a direction parallel to the surface and facing the image display surface through the half mirror, an electronic shutter installed on a mirror surface of each of the plane mirrors and capable of electrically controlling transparency, and two input images An image selection device that alternately selects and outputs one while switching, and alternately opens one of the electronic shutters in synchronization with the image selection device switching the output image. An electronic shutter control device for closing;
And an optical path length at which image light emitted from the image display device is reflected by the half mirror, reflected by the first plane mirror, transmitted through the half mirror, and reaches a user's eye, and an image emitted from the image display device. A multi-image display device, wherein a light path length is different from an optical path length of light transmitted through the half mirror, reflected by the second plane mirror, reflected by the half mirror, and reaching the user's eyes.